Harry Martin reserved praise for the character of his England side after they qualified for the Hockey World League Final and picked up Semi-Final bronze with victory over Malaysia.
England had been denied a gold-medal duel with defeat by Netherlands on Saturday, but stepped up their game for one last push to take third-place, finishing in style with a 4-1 victory.
Martin himself was on the scoresheet, twice, while David Ames and Phil Roper wrapped up the scoring, the latter coming after Malaysia threatened a late fightback.
But despite the standout, individual displays, Martin felt the team deserved the accolades – with more excitement set to come when the Hockey World Cup rolls around next year.
“It feels really good, qualifying for the World Cup was our main aim so we’re pretty happy with that, we were disappointed with the defeat but the boys showed a lot of character to come back,” he said.
“It’s been a long time coming getting the goals, I was probably due a few, but this was all about the team today, we put our game out there and we’re looking forward to the rest of the summer.
“We love playing here, it really makes such a difference and hopefully we can get some more tournaments here.”
If England had felt the disappointment of their earlier defeat, it certainly didn’t show as they opened the scoring at LeeValley from the very first penalty corner.
The initial penalty corner was saved, but Martin was in the right place at the right time to tuck home the rebound and put his side one to the good.
Fluidity was the forefront of the hosts’ attacking display in London, with a scintillating team move finished off by birthday boy Ames to double the advantage.
A third was to come before the break courtesy of Martin’s 15th international strike, diverting in from Sam Ward to reach double figures for England.
Fitri Saari finished with a rocket to give Malaysia a deserved consolation, but a powerful Roper shot squeezed through the keeper’s legs to seal the win – and England’s place at the Hockey World League Final in India.
“Overall we’re really pleased, some of our basics let us down at our times, but overall it was a good stepping stone for this team,” said head coach Bobby Crutchley.
“We’re delighted to qualify for the World Cup and World League Final, we’ve got a short recovery period and then we’ll get back training, we’ve got the Europeans in August and we’re looking forward to that.
“They’re a really exciting group, really frustrating at times, but we’re really looking forward to working with them over the next few years.” However, there was less joy for Scotland's women, who went down 5-0 to Korea to miss out on a place in the Hockey World League quarter-finals. Victory would have guaranteed the Scots a top-four spot in their pool and a place in the last-eight but the defeat, which included a Cheon Seul-Ki hat-trick, means they will now contest the 9th-10th place play-off on Thursday.
Sportsbeat 2017